Probably one of my favorite chapters because of the style in which I
wrote it... I call it my "psychedelic" style, although there's probably
some official literary term for telling two stories at the same time as
if they were one story. You know, those words the AP test people love...
Ambinarrative? Bihistoire? Anyway... Does anyone out there want me to
speed up the releases of the chapters to one a day instead of one every
two days? Private replies only to that question, please, but if you have
C&C on the story itself, feel free to go public. (Just send me a copy
too, because otherwise I won't get it until the next day.)
Jellic�s Hateful Quest
Chapter 10: A Perilous Quest for Perilina
�Jellic, talk to me,� said Ashley, breaking the long, meaningful
silence that had fallen over the pair since they entered the Swamp of
Sickness. Of course, it had never been completely silent. The various
Pokemon calls echoing from the depths of the Swamp, the sucking noises
as they lifted their feet from the damp ground, and the heavy sounds of
their own breathing only made the Swamp far more eerie.
�What do you want to talk about?� asked Jellic, also glad for the
chance to hear his own voice.
�Anything,� said Ashley. �Just as long as it takes my mind off of
where we are. This place is worse than the Forest of Mist.�
Jellic nodded his agreement. �I�ve been in swamps before, but never
anything like this.�
�Swamps in other dimensions?� asked Ashley. Jellic nodded again.
�That sounds interesting. Tell me about some of your adventures.�
Jellic considered briefly what to say. The sudden silence, however,
spurred him to speak once again, and so he quickly told the first story
that entered his mind. �There was once a fierce dragon that lived in a
swamp near a village that I was visiting. This was a speaking dragon,
and it demanded human sacrifices every week, or it would leave the swamp
and attack every village in the country.�
�That�s horrible!�
�It�s a fact of life for those people,� explained Jellic. �Dragons
are carnivores. Technically, they can eat any type of meat, but they
will die young if not nourished with human flesh.� He shuddered. �Most
dragons would simply hunt within their territory, and the people had
learned to deal with that. It�s only when a dragon demands sacrifices
that it has to be destroyed.�
�I don�t care how natural it is,� said Ashley. �I think anything
that eats humans is evil.�
�That�s the way nature works. Anyway, the villagers had to bring in
people from other villages every week - mostly criminals - to feed to
the dragon. But there weren�t enough criminals to go around, and they
had to send innocent people to their deaths in the swamp. At the time I
was there, the sacrifice was a young lady about my own age �� He paused
briefly, but the eerie silence forced him to continue. �I forget what
her name was, but it�s not really important. Her fiance had been sent to
the dragon the week before and she didn�t want to go on, so she
volunteered herself for the next week�s sacrifice. While she was in the
town near the swamp, however, she met the butcher�s son and instantly
fell in love with him. Unfortunately, the day of the sacrifice was close
at hand, and it was too late to find an alternate sacrifice. So I
volunteered to hunt down and slay the dragon.�
�That was very brave of you,� said Ashley, abruptly stopping where
she stood.
�Is something wrong?� asked Jellic.
�My legs are stiffening again,� answered Ashley, spraying her
Paralyze Heal on her legs. However, during the brief lapse of
conversation, Jellic�s acute hearing picked up a new sound in addition
to the normal background noises of the swamp.
�SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS� came the noise from behind them. Jellic whirled
to face a coral-colored snake that was poised to strike at any second.
Ashley hid behind Jellic, whining in terror. Jellic aimed his Pokedex at
the snake, careful not to make any sudden movements.
�Ekans, a poisonous snake Pokemon. This Pokemon is born without
fangs, and must resort to strangling its prey with a Wrap attack until
its fangs grow in, allowing it to use Poisonous attacks. Ekans is nearly
blind and hunts by sensing the movements of its prey.�
�Does it have its teeth yet?� asked Ashley. Jellic stared at the
Ekans, and it stared back. Jellic found himself frozen in place.
�Jellic? What�s wrong?� After a few seconds, she carefully peered around
Jellic to see the Ekans staring him in the eye. �Oh no! It�s using its
Leer attack to paralyze him!� She quickly stepped backwards and averted
her eyes to avoid meeting the Ekans� gaze.
The Ekans struck, wrapping its body three times around Jellic before
he could react. Jellic�s arms were pinned to his sides, and he felt his
ribs being crushed from the sides as well as the front and back. His
breath escaped him as his lungs were compressed, and his heartbeat began
to slow. �Ashley, do something,� he moaned through the haze of blood
rushing to his head. Ashley grabbed the first Pokeball she could put her
hands on and threw it.
�Vulpix,� cooed the Vulpix.
�Oh, no!� shouted Ashley. �You can�t use your Fire attacks or you�ll
hurt Jellic!� Meanwhile, the Ekans had set its sights on the Vulpix and
decided that it could fight while still squeezing the life out of
Jellic. It hissed at the Vulpix and reared back to strike. �Vulpix, Tail
Whip!� The Vulpix turned its entire body about, dealing the Ekans a
swift smack in the mouth as it struck. �Now Quick Attack!� The Vulpix
smacked into the Ekans� coils, knocking both Jellic and the snake to the
ground. Jellic quickly wriggled free of the snake�s coils and reached
for his own Pokebelt. However, the Ekans turned and fled, deciding to
seek easier prey elsewhere in the Swamp.
�Thank you,� said Jellic, when he had caught his breath.
�I�m really afraid of snakes, Jellic,� she replied. �I don�t want
one of those Ekans to get me!�
�You were very brave,� Jellic commended her. �You could be an
interdimensional hero yourself.�
�So what happened when you went to hunt the dragon?� asked Ashley.
Jellic picked up the tale where he�d left off as they continued
through the Swamp. Or at least, he tried to. �Where was I again? My head
feels kind of groggy.�
�You were about to hunt down the dragon,� Ashley reminded him.
�That�s right. I remember now,� said Jellic, shaking his head to
clear it. �Well, it wasn�t hard to track down the dragon. It left a
trail of broken branches and -� he glanced at Ashley and decided to
choose his words carefully �- other landmarks that a novice could have
followed. Of course, that was probably its plan, hoping to lure in
inexperienced swordsmen and eat them. I�d never actually fought a dragon
before, but I knew how it was done, and I was very skilled at
swordsmanship by that time. I suppose I may have been a bit headstrong,
thinking that I could defeat the dragon alone, and that�s probably why
things went so wrong. I still remember what was going through my mind
then...�
Jellic let his mind drift among the memories. He was walking through
the swamp, seeking the lair of the elusive swamp dragon known to the
villagers as Miresbane. The dragon was nearby; he could smell the sulfur
in its breath. Dragons preferred dark, damp places, so Jellic carried
his spare flints and a torch as well as his sword. The ground was
covered with a thin blanket of mist, turning ordinary tree roots into
invisible triplines, grasping at Jellic�s ankles with every murky step.
Jellic knew to steer well clear of the trees, but the roots were
everywhere. Here and there, he could feel that a root had been
unnaturally flattened, and he knew that the dragon was close.
A burst of flame appeared in the distance ahead. The dragon! Jellic
drew his sword and approached slowly, hoping to sneak up on the dragon
and gain the element of surprise. Within minutes, he had reached the
clearing, and the mouth of Miresbane�s cave opened forebodingly before
him. However, the dragon was not in residence. �Damn, it must have known
I was coming!� Jellic�s hand tensed on the sword�s grip as he realized
that this meant that the dragon would have the element of surprise.
Before he could turn around, he felt the tap on his shoulder. Biting his
tongue to keep from screaming, he turned around, swinging his sword
behind him.
�What are you doing?� screamed the girl from the village as she fell
backwards, barely dodging the blade.
�Oh, Perilina, it�s you,� he replied, very much relieved to see her.
However, his relief quickly turned to anger as he realized that the very
woman he�d come to protect was placing herself in danger. �What are you
doing here? This place is too dangerous for you!�
�I came here with you,� she replied indignantly. �I�ll be safe as
long as you�re with me.�
�I came into this swamp to kill the dragon. You�ll only get in my
way!�
�What dragon?� asked Perilina. �There are no dragons around here.�
Jellic heard a hissing noise behind him and turned to face the
dragon. �What do you call this?� he shouted over his shoulder.
�An Ekans,� she replied. Jellic stared carefully at the creature. It
wasn�t a dragon, it was a large snake, hissing at him and daring him to
attack it. He stabbed it with his sword, but the long stick in his hand
snapped against its scaly skin and broke. �Call out your Pokemon!�
shouted Perilina, only it wasn�t Perilina anymore � it was someone else.
Someone from a different dimension...
Jellic shook his head and looked again. He was still in a swamp, but
this one was different. His hand went to his belt and found a small orb,
which he threw at the snake. A small cat emerged from the ball.
�Meowth,� Jellic said to himself. Suddenly, he realized where he was
and what he was doing. �Meowth, Scratch!� Meowth let fly with a flurry
of claw swipes, scratching a gridline pattern across the face of the
dazed Ekans. The snake hissed, then turned tail and fled. Jellic
recalled the Meowth.
�That was close!� said Ashley. �For a second there, you were acting
really weird!�
�I was?� asked Jellic, completely confused. �What was I doing?�
�You were shouting at me for following you into the Swamp, and you
called me Perilina.�
�Perilina...� Jellic could remember her beautiful hair, the way he�d
fallen in love with her looks when he�d first seen her. Of course, there
were girls like Perilina everywhere he went, and he�d trained himself
not to be swayed by a pretty face. Besides, she was in love with another
man, and how could Jellic interfere with that? Of course, he had
interfered; that much was certain. Otherwise, why would she be here in
the swamp with him instead of safe in the arms of her new boyfriend?
�Jellic, are you listening to me?� she asked him.
�Of course I am, Perilina. I just don�t like the idea of you being
in such a dangerous place.�
�There we go again with you calling me Perilina. What�s the idea?�
Jellic wracked his brain. �Would you prefer I call you Lina for
short?�
�Call me Ashley! That�s my real name!� But Jellic missed her words
as a faint stomping noise caught his ear. The dragon was close now,
moving in from behind.
�Quick, hide somewhere! I�ll fight the dragon; you get to someplace
safe!� He pushed Perilina behind him as he turned to face the dragon.
�Jellic, snap out of it! There�s no dragon!� shouted Perilina as the
dragon came into view. Its scales blended from green to red, in a
mottled pattern that covered its skin completely. A few nicks in some of
the scales near its head indicated that Miresbane had seen many
battles � and survived them all. Jellic quickly snatched up his sword
and brandished it at the dragon. The dragon�s mouth opened, and out
came �
-- a stream of water, blasting Jellic in the face and bringing him
abruptly back to his senses. �What is going on, Jellic?� asked Ashley as
she recalled her Wartortle. �You�re daydreaming, or something, and it�s
really starting to creep me out!�
�I can�t control it,� said Jellic. �All of a sudden, I�m back there,
in the swamp with that village girl, fighting the dragon. It�s as if it�
s really happening. I can see the dragon ��
�Don�t describe it!� shouted Ashley. �It always starts when you let
your imagination take over. Maybe if you concentrate on the real world,
you�ll be able to keep your mind in this dimension.�
�I hope so,� said Jellic. �The thought of having to fight that
battle over again is starting to creep ME out.�
�Why? Did something bad happen during the battle?�
Jellic closed his eyes. �Yes. Something horrible. It was �� He
opened his eyes to find himself staring down the gullet of the swamp
dragon Miresbane. �Not again,� he moaned.
The dragon stared at Jellic quizzically for a second, then ignored
the aside comment and returned to its own sequence of events. �WHY HAVE
YOU ENTERED MY SWAMP, WARRIOR?� it demanded in a voice filled with
echoes, not from the non-acoustic trees of the swamp, but from deep
within the dragon�s body and long throat.
�I have come to end your reign of terror, Miresbane! I am Jellic,
hero of Nhura village! Surrender to me and I will kill you quickly, or
fight and prepare to die a painful death!�
�YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND. YOU MUST NOT SLAY ME.�
�You demand human sacrifice, an action that is against the code of
the dragon! For your terrible crime, you must be destroyed!�
�NO! I DEMAND HUMAN SACRIFICE ONLY TO FEED MY CHILDREN!�
�Then you had better hope that your children can learn to feed
themselves according to the code,� said Jellic, taking his fighting
stance.
�PLEASE, DO NOT FORCE ME TO FIGHT YOU. I WANT NO WASTED BLOODSHED.�
�You prefer your victims not to struggle, is that it? Well, let�s
see how well you can handle a meal that fights back!� Jellic leaped at
the dragon, swinging his sword. The sword barely dented the tough scales
of the dragon�s snout. The dragon flicked its nose and spat a burst of
flame at Jellic, who rolled aside to avoid it. Jellic stepped forward
and stabbed his sword into the dragon�s throat. The dragon roared in
pain, and jerked its neck free of the blade, tearing it open and
spilling gallons of dark blood onto the marshy ground and all over
Jellic. The blood burned his skin as it touched him, but Jellic ignored
the pain and struck again, lodging the point of his sword in Miresbane�s
thick skull. The dragon recoiled, lifting its head high and sending
forth another shower of blood from the wound in its neck.
�THE PAIN! HOW IT TORTURES ME! MY CHILDREN! I MUST LIVE!� The dragon
lowered its head to breathe fire at Jellic again, but Jellic quickly
climbed a nearby tree and leapt onto the dragon�s head, grabbing the
hilt of his sword and holding on to it as the dragon swung its head from
side to side in an effort to dislodge Jellic. At the height of its
swing, Jellic quickly pulled the sword free and stabbed it between the
dragon�s eyes, into the spot that is guaranteed to deliver a fatal blow.
Miresbane collapsed, its strength gone.
�Your reign of terror is over, Miresbane,� said Jellic, wiping the
blood off of his blade.
�No,� said the dragon weakly. �It is only beginning. My children...
my children are... not...�
�Jellic, stop it! What is wrong with you?� shouted Perilina, but
Jellic ignored her, straining to hear Miresbane�s dying words.
�My children are not... dragons... of honor,� groaned Miresbane.
�They are... sick and twisted perversions... of nature. They lust for
blood... I could not bring myself to kill them, nor could I betray them
by revealing them... to humans. That was... my mistake. I demanded
humans only to sate their... vile appetites. If I did not... feed
them... they would have escaped from the cave and...� Miresbane closed
her eyes. �When I am gone... they are... free...� The great dragon fell
silent, and its belabored breathing grew still. As if on cue, tiny
growls began to emanate from the mouth of the nearby cave. In the light
of the flames from deep within the cave, Jellic could see the shadows on
the walls. And they weren�t the shadows of dragons...
A scream came from behind him. Jellic turned to see a familiar
coral-colored snake staring at Perilina � no, at Ashley of Sage City.
The Ekans hissed. Ashley stood perfectly still, except for the shivers
that ran all through her paralyzed body. �Jellic... do something...� she
whispered. �My legs have gone stiff again...�
Jellic stared at the Ekans, noticing a series of red marks on its
face. �It�s the same Ekans that�s been following us all this time!� he
said. �Go get it, Caterpie!� The Caterpie effortlessly tied up the Ekans
with a String Shot and Tackled it, sending it flying deep into the
swamp, from whence it did not return. As Ashley dug in her pouch for the
Paralyze Heal, Caterpie began to glow. �Ashley, what�s happening to
Caterpie?�
�It�s evolving into Metapod!� she observed. The Caterpie quickly
fashioned itself a cocoon out of string, which hardened into a
protective shell. �Now it will begin turning into a Butterfree! Of
course, it can hardly move until then, but it can still Tackle and use
String Shot. Still, its best defense now is to Harden its shell. If it
Hardens enough, nothing can hurt it.�
�A hard, impenetrable shell,� mused Jellic aloud. �That�s what I
forgot that day. Dragons� scales grow weaker rather than stronger with
age...�
�No, not again!� shouted Perilina, as the twisted shapes emerged
from the mouth of the cave and charged toward her, bellowing cries of
hunger and snorting flames as they came. Jellic quickly moved to
intercept them, bringing his sword crashing down onto the skull of the
nearest monster. The sword rang as the impact set it into vibrations.
The monster shook off the blow and breathed fire at Jellic. The flames
caught in his skin, which was already badly burned from Miresbane�s
blood, and suddenly the pain returned, eating through his body like a
virus, burning him up inside. Jellic moaned in pain.
�I can�t take it anymore! THE PAIN!� he cried, and collapsed to the
ground. His head swam. Two dimensions merged in his consciousness, and
both existed, yet neither one existed, for an infinity of time. A
soothing coolness spread throughout his body and dissolved the burning
heat everywhere it went. Then, he awoke into a pair of loving arms,
embracing him for all they were worth.
�Jellic, I thought I�d lost you,� said Ashley, punctuating the
sentence with a light kiss on his cheek. �When that Ekans Wrapped you
up, it must have poisoned you somehow. The poison got into your system
and made you hallucinate. I�m sorry I didn�t figure it out sooner. As it
is, if I hadn�t given you an Antidote when I did, you probably would
have died from the poison.�
Jellic returned Ashley�s embrace, his lips inches from hers. They
stared into each other�s eyes for what seemed like an eternity. �There
are no words that properly express my feelings right now,� he said at
last. �But I will use the ones that seem to fit best � thank you.�
�That�s so sweet.� She smiled at him, and their noses touched
briefly, setting both of them into hysterics. The solemnity of the
moment, and the dismal desolation of their surroundings, were lost in
their mirth. Finally, Ashley recovered her composure and helped Jellic
to his feet. �We�d better get moving. It will be dark soon.� Jellic
nodded, and they continued on. �So what happened after Miresbane�s
children left the cave?� she asked.
�How did you know --?�
�You were talking in your sleep. The fever of the Ekans� poison
makes that happen. But when the monsters left the cave, you woke up and
didn�t get to finish the story.�
Jellic turned the story over in his mind, considering. �You know,
perhaps that wasn�t the best story to tell you right now. The ending
was, -- well, not pretty.�
�Oh, but I have to know! You tell it so well, even when you�re not
conscious enough to know what you�re saying!�
�All right,� said Jellic, and as they set up their campsite, he
finished the story, letting his mind wander not from fever, but from the
clarity of the memories that would haunt him for the rest of his life...
The flames caught in Jellic�s clothing as the monsters surrounded
him, and he threw himself to the ground to extinguish the flames. This
gave the monsters their opening, and they pounced on him with jaws wide
open.
�No! Jellic!� screamed Perilina � the real Perilina, not Ashley of
Sage City � as she threw herself on top of Jellic. She turned to stare
into his eyes, and for a split second, their eyes met. In her eyes, he
could see the reflection of his own, and they were filled with love. He
did love Perilina...
And then, she was jerked backwards, as one of the monsters grabbed
her leg in its teeth and dragged her backwards off of Jellic. He reached
for her, but she was pulled away too quickly, and the monsters began to
feast. Jellic stumbled his way to his feet, swung his sword over his
head, and attacked the nearest monster, but once again the blade bounced
off without leaving an impression. The monster turned and snarled at
Jellic, and he realized that once again, he was the center of unwanted
attention. His sword was useless against the monsters...
Then it hit him. His sword had been forged by a Daamelbraan master,
and Daamelbraan steel was known for one property: it became ten times as
hard when heated. Jellic quickly pulled his torch from his satchel and
fumbled for his flints. The small gray rocks fell from his satchel and
landed directly in a puddle of marsh water, drenched beyond utility.
Jellic swore and swung the unlit torch at the advancing monsters. One of
them responded with a tongue of flame, and Jellic quickly maneuvered the
torch into position. The flames caught in the everburn fabric and the
torch flared into life. Jellic backed away from the monsters, holding
the tip of his sword in the torch flame and watching it begin to glow
with the added strength of the flame.
The nearest monster leapt. Jellic quickly stabbed his sword point
into its back, and this time the blade found its mark, penetrating the
scales and piercing the creature�s heart. He pulled the sword free and
attacked the next monster, piercing its throat with the blade that was
now hot with the blood of the first monster. The third monster didn�t
give Jellic a chance to retrieve his sword; it lunged at him and
received a mouthful of the business end of Jellic�s torch. Though
dragons are known for their ability to exhale flames, the flames are
slightly more harmful to the dragons when going the opposite direction.
The monster�s death struggles were brief.
Jellic left his sword and torch where they were and knelt by
Perilina�s side. With tears in his eyes, he picked it up and carried it
over to her head, and fetched the only arm he could find. Gathering up
what was left of her, he grimly set off toward the village to announce
the death of Miresbane and the end of the dragon�s reign of terror...
As he finished the story, Jellic�s voice trailed off. He glanced
down at Ashley, who was sound asleep in his arms. The firelight
reflected off of the tears on her cheeks, and an occasional sob came
from deep within her chest. Mewthree sat beside the campfire, watching
for the slightest sign of danger in the swamp. Jellic sighed and allowed
himself to drift off to sleep, keeping his ears open for any predators
that might be waiting beyond the fire�s glow.
And as he closed his eyes, the afterimage of the dancing flame was
left in his eyelids, and in it he could see the last emotion that had
been in Perilina�s eyes while his own were filled with love. It was a
picture of love tempered with sorrow that filled Jellic�s senses; sorrow
at the heartbreak she knew he would experience after her death. And that
was Jellic�s last sight before the glow in his eyes died.
------------------------------------------------------------
MOM: I'm getting rid of this TV before the mindless garbage rots your
brain!
JOHNNY: Mindless garbage not rot brain!
(SHAMPOO: Mindless Johnny not got brain to rot!)
"There's a billion places like home. But only one of them's where you
live." - Granny Weatherwax, "Witches Abroad" by Terry Pratchett
JACKIE CHAN: Oh, sorry. I broke your spy camera! (pause) SPY CAMERA?!
My webpage: http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~katinamp